Capaldi’s Previous Appearances: A Theory

Guest contributor Daniel Boyle offers some speculation.

On the 4th August 2013 fans all around the world waited for that big casting announcement. Of course there was speculation at first, but even those who guessed correctly were as surprised as everyone else that Peter Capaldi, Malcolm Tucker, will be playing one of Britain’s most iconic roles, the Doctor. I had only known him from The Thick of It, and then it hit me, like many, Capaldi had played not one character in the Whoniverse, but two! Back in 2008 Capaldi was a Lobus Caecilius, a marble trader with political ambitions, in the episode ‘The Fires of Pompeii’, these political ambitions relate to his next role as John Frobisher, the Permanent Secretary to the British Government, in the series ‘Torchwood: Children of Earth’.

These two characters are very different, opposites you could say. Caecilius was honest, hard working and good man, he wanted the best in life for his family and was important in his community. This role was not a cameo, he was a major plot device, his daughter was planning on joining the Soothsayers, the Doctor saved his life and he had links with Lucius. In ‘Children of Earth’ Capaldi’s character was very dark, twisted and malicious. As we find out at the end of the series he dies, killing his own family, which was different from his first character.

So after realising that the two characters were different I just put it down to coincidence, just as the Sixth Doctor appeared as another character before his tenure. But, after reading a few articles recently about the latest filming location of Lanzarote and all the talk about Russell T Davies’ theories about why Capaldi has appeared has led me to come up with a theory of my own.

So here it is, my theory: throughout Series 8 the Doctor will not only be going on adventures, looking for Gallifrey and saving Clara, but he will also be wondering why he has the same face as Caecilius. I imagine that this will be one of those series arcs that are brought up in every episode, with subtle hints here and there. I think that the Doctor’s curiosity will eventually bring him to Pompeii again, but this time days before the 10th Doctor visits (because of time streams etc), but then the 12th Doctor will get caught up on something and have the thought to stop the Pyrovile before Ten makes the decision to erupt the Volcano, but I am sidetracking here. I don’t think that the Doctor will find anything out about why he looks the same in this episode, or maybe he will find out something but not the whole truth, which will lead him to go to Earth.

I can imagine that Clara would remember something as big as a child abduction that happened recently, and I am hoping it’s not like one of those Donna moments where she won’t know about it. I hope she questions herself and thinks that she has seen his face somewhere but doesn’t know where. By mid series (or just after) I think that Torchwood will be brought into it again, well we can all hope, as Jack Harkness and his team had fought against the government and even spoke with Frobisher. From there on the series will focus on the reason behind this, Clara will be reminded which will put their relationship on the brink.

By the end I think it will be a simple explanation. My thought is that when Matt Smith entered the timestream on Trenzalore, the TARDIS automatically altered regenerations, as when the TARDIS left Trenzalore the Doctor was regenerating, meaning that the 12th Doctor was echoed throughout history. Like Clara, but on a bigger scale meaning he existed outside of the Doctors time stream. I also believe that Frobisher was a dark character because of Capaldi’s personality as the 12th Doctor, like the Dream Lord in Series 5, the Doctor’s darkest emotions were echoed.

Well that’s my explanation for the Doctor’s previous appearances, but is Moffat going to play out this scenario? I don’t know. He is known to refer back to past episodes so this could be a possibility. I could ramble on more and explain it so that it makes sense, but I could be here all day so I shortened it as best as I could.

Thanks for reading my article, and please leave your theories and opinions below and i’ll read them all!